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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

It's a man's world-but in this outrageous debut, the girls aren't playing by the rules.

For lifelong friends Jackie, Cheryl, and Doris, life hasn't turned out according to plan. But after a drunken night sampling the delights at a strip club for women, the ladies stumble upon an ingenious idea and open up The Whole Package-the world's first restaurant staffed exclusively by very attractive men. Mixing business with pleasure can be risky, but for these three best friends, getting a little bit outrageous just might be what it takes to make their mark in the world.

PRAISE FOR THE WHOLE PACKAGE:

"The friendship between the women is realistic, the characters funny, and the premise well-executed. Readers will giggle and grin from start to finish, and will surely be eager for Ellingsen's next novel." -PublishersWeekly.com

"A delightfully frivolous romp"

- RT Book Reviews

"Un-put-downable!"

- Louise Bagshawe

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Cynthia Ellingsen is an author and screenwriter who lives in Lexington, KY with her husband. Visit her website at www.cynthiaellingsen.com.

AUTHOR GUEST POST:Many thanks to Cynthia for this wonderful Guest Post...enjoy!Hi Bookin’ With Bingo! I’m thrilled at the opportunity to guest post with you. It’ll be a blast to talk with you about my debut novel, The Whole Package.

The Whole Package is about three best friends who lose everything. One loses her job, one loses her husband and one loses her fortune. Together, they open a restaurant staffed by scantily clad men.

Sexist? Maybe.

Hot? Absolutely.

I have to admit, one of the most fun things about writing The Whole Package was creating the scenes in the restaurant, including the crazy opening night.

Originally, this scene was the wildest bachelorette party you could imagine. I toned it down quite a bit, but it’s still as naughty as can be. One of my favorite characters on opening night is an old lady on super bad behavior:

Cheryl’s eyes fell on an old lady. Even in her hunched and fragile state, this grandma had managed to find her footing on top of a chair. She was standing there at full height, overlooking the crowd from above.

“Get down,” Cheryl cried, trying to push through the crowd. “We don’t have death insurance!”

The old lady gave Cheryl a beatific grin. As a line of oily back-up dancers took the stage, the old woman raised her arms in the air and screamed, “Aiyee aiyee aiyee.” The catcall was louder than a cab whistle. Everyone in the restaurant turned to stare.

Delighted to have an audience, the old lady ran her hands over her sagging body and eyeballed the line of handsome young men.
“Hi honey,” the old woman called. “You looking for a date?”

The thing that makes me laugh about this woman is her complete, unabashed enthusiasm. She is living her life and loving it! Of course, she is putting herself in danger by standing on that rickety chair.

Gabe leapt back into the center of the restaurant. He started snapping his fingers like Patrick Swayze in the last, triumphant dance scene of Dirty Dancing. The dancers crowded round. To the beat of the music, they gyrated in unison.

The old woman remained on top of her chair, gyrating right along with them.

“Aiyee aiyee aiyee,” she cried, wiggling her hips to the music. “Come and get it!”

As everyone watched, the old woman fumbled with the top buttons of her shirt. Luckily, her arthritic fingers protested the action so instead, the woman grabbed for her heavy leather purse and began swinging it over her head.

Cheryl grabbed Gabe and practically shoved him towards the old lady. “Get her down.”

Gabe nodded. He moved forward with careful, measured steps. The crowd leaned forward, hanging on every motion of the hunt. Just as he got close enough to grab her, the old woman took a flying leap off of the table. The crowd gasped as, for a moment, she hung in the air like a broken piñata. Before she could hit the ground, Anthony pushed Gabe aside and dove between him and the old woman. With strong arms and a heavy coat, Anthony caught her just before she could crash to the floor and shatter.

Eventually, the old lady gets completely out of control. She takes her clothes off and hides out in the bathroom but this is not the only piece of chaos. Everything goes wrong. The kitchen catches fire, the police and fire department show up, there are picketers on the front lawn...

The Grand Opening was definitely a Grand Disaster.

And it was so much fun to write.

GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO ERIN AND MY GOOD FRIENDS

AT PENGUIN PUBLISHING, I HAVE TWO

COPIES OFTHE WHOLE PACKAGETO

GIVE AWAY TO TWO LUCKY READERS

--U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY--NO P. O. BOXES---INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESSIN CASE YOU WIN!--ALL COMMENTS MUST BE SEPARATETOCOUNT AS MORE THAN ONE!HOW TO ENTER:

+1 ENTRY: COMMENT ON WHAT YOU FOUND INTERESTING IN CYNTHIA'S GUEST POST ABOVE AND BE SURE AND TELL ME YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IF YOU WOULD LIKE A CHANCE TO WIN THIS BOOK

+1 MORE ENTRY: BLOG OR TWEET ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY AND COME BACK AND LEAVE A LINK THAT I CAN FOLLOW

+1 (or +?) MORE ENTRIES: COMMENT IF YOU HAVE ENTERED ANY OF MY OTHER CURRENT GIVEAWAYS. IF YOU HAVE ENTERED MORE THAN ONE, YOU MAY GET EXTRA ENTRIES BY COMMENTING SEPARATELY FOREACH ONE YOU HAVE ENTERED.

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comments:

The Whole Package sounds hillarious! Thanks for the post. I think it's interesting that Cynthia mentioned about the older woman's complete, unabashed enthusiasm - she's living her life and loving it...I think that's great ..so many times we see older people and lt's like the life got sucked out of them and they don't know how to have a good time anymore!